Two hook sewing machine needle for rooting hair and an apparatus for rooting hair

ABSTRACT

A two hook needle for rooting hair or similar substances in a material. The needle has a sharp tip end and two hooks, one provided in an area adjacent the tip end of the needle and the other in an area intermediate the head and the tip end thereof. The hooks can either be on the same side or on opposite sides of the needle. An apparatus for rooting any length of hair or similar substance in material easily and mechanically uses the hooked needle and a pair of cooperating guide plates or a guide ring.

United States Patent 1191 Matsumura TWO HOOK SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE FOR ROOTING HAIR AND AN APPARATUS FOR ROOTING HAIR [75] Inventor:

[=73] Assignee: Kanegaluchi Chemical Industry (10.,

Ltd., Japan [22] Filed: Aug. 24, I973 [21] Appl. No.: 391,485

Yoshitsugu Matsumura, Nara, Japan [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 15, 1972 Japan 47-132119 [52] US. Cl Ill/79.5; 28/722 R; 28/4 N; 112/222, 132/5 [51] Int. Cl. D05c 15/02 8 Field of Search 112/795, 222, 223, 224,

112/170; 66/116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121; 132/5, 56; 46/172; 28/722 R, 4 R, 4 N

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Hall 112/795 X 1451 May 13, 1975 2.689575 9/1954 Gerbaud 112/795 2,828,702 4/1958 Hall 112/795 2,958,] 13 11/1960 Lauterbach 28/722 R X 2,977,906 4/1961 Follender 112/795 3,013,567 12/1961 Sotzky 112/795 x 3.710.740 1/1973 Canziani 112/795 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 330,041 6/1930 United Kingdom 66/121 637,427 5/1950 United Kingdom 112/795 Primary ExaminerWerner H. Schroeder [57] ABSTRACT A two hook needle for rooting hair or similar substances in a material. The needle has a sharp tip end and two hooks, one provided in an area adjacent the tip end of the needle and the other in an area intermediate the head and the tip end thereof. The hooks can either be on the same side or on opposite sides of the needle. An apparatus for rooting any length of hair or similar substance in material easily and mechanically uses the hooked needle and a pair of cooperating guide plates or a guide ring.

6 Claims, 38 Drawing Figures wgmggm 1 3:975 1882 804 SHEEI 1 OF 6 FIGJX FIG/IV FIG/ll FIG.4(1 FIG-4b PATENIEBHAY 1 31% 3 882 804 sum 20F e FIG-5Q FIGSb PATENTED W I 3 1975 SHEET 5 BF 6 4-i-' minimiii i'immm 27 26 TWO HOOK SEWING MACHINE NEEDLE FOR ROOTING HAIR AND AN APPARATUS FOR ROOTING HAIR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART The present invention relates to a hooked sewing machine needle with two hooks thereon and to an appara tus which can root any length of hair on knitted or woven fabrics or on other sheet-like material surfaces of a wig or the like by alternate and intermittent operation of the hooked sewing machine needle and guiding upper and lower plates or a guide ring.

In performing a hair rooting operation on the surface of a sheet-like material, a Jacquard machine, or other special weaving machine or a complex apparatus with several complex needles, hooks, etc, has hitherto been used. Also in rooting extremely short hair, an electrostatic hair planting machine has been used. However, it requires a complex apparatus in each case. In addition it is very difficult to root a long hair, such as a false hair, mechanically and automatically. Thus, there is generally no other way available than a hand sewing method, which requires a great amount of labor with the resultant wage expense.

Whenever the word hair is used hereinafter in the body of the specification, it will be understood to mean hair or similar substances.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a first object of the present invention to provide a special type of hooked sewing machine needle which can root any length of hair easily and mechanically in a material surface.

A second object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can root any length of hair easily in a ma terial surface without the necessity of using such complicated and expensive machines as a Jacquard machine or an electrostatic hair planting machine.

A third object of the invention is to provide a simple apparatus which can easily root even long hair, such as false hair, mechanically and automatically.

These objects are achieved by the needle and the apparatus of the present invention, by which even a long hair such as a false hair can be rooted quite easily. The apparatus comprises a two hooked sewing machine needle with two hooks, and a guiding ring or upper and lower guiding plates with which the needle cooperates.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Attached drawings show preferred embodiments of the present invention. In the drawings:

FIG. IX-1Z are side views showing embodiments of a hooked sewing machine needle with two hooks thereon for rooting hair, FIG. 1X showing a needle with two hooks provided on one side, FIG. lY showing a needle with the hooks on opposed sides, and FIG. 12 showing a covering provided over the upper hair engag ing hook.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a guiding upper plate and a guiding lower plate in the positions in which they are separated from each other.

FIGS. 3A-3C to A-10C are respectively schematic end, side and plan views showing the cooperation of the needle of FIG. lY and guiding plates of a first embodiment of the apparatus for carrying out a hair rooting.

FIGS. 11 to 18 are side views of successive steps in a hair rooting process using the second embodiment of the apparatus having a hooked sewing machine needle of FIG. 1X and a guiding ring.

FIG. 19 is a schematic side elevation of a needle operating mechanism for driving the needle in its up and down movement; and

FIG. 20 is a schematicplan view of the mechanism for sliding the upper and lower guiding plates toward and away from each other.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIGS. lX-lZ show three embodiments of a hooked sewing machine needle according to the invention for rooting hair, each having two hooks. The numeral 1 designates the hooked sewing machine needle having a pointed tip portion 2. A lower hair engaging hook 3 which is relatively small is provided on the side of the needle near the pointed tip portion 2. An upper hair engaging hook 4 which is relatively large is located on the needle above the lower hook 3. As shown in FIG. 1X, the upper hook may be located on the same side as the lower hook 3. As shown in FIG. 1Y, it may be located on the other side from the side in which the lower hook 3 is located. Also the upper hook may be covered with a latch 12 as shown in FIG. 1 Z.

Referring now to FIGS. 3A-3C to 10A-10C, which show a first embodiment of the hair rooting apparatus, the numeral 5 is a sheet-like material serving as a material in which hair is to be rooted. Said sheet-like material may have fibers arranged in parallel or may be a net-like material. It is moved intermittently, by the operation of a conventional cam means (not shown), a given number of pitches in the direction of arrow 0: (see FIG. 6A). The numeral 6a is a guiding upper plate, at the tip end of which is located a hook hole 7a. The numeral 6b is a guiding lower plate at the tip end of which is located a hole 712. The guiding upper and lower plates 6a and 6b are connected to a conventional sewing machine apparatus to cause them to move back and forth, toward and away from each other, and left and right, i.e. laterally of the direction of back and forth movement as shown by the arrows. When both plates 6a and 6b withdraw left and right respectively, they separate from each other with the needle 1 lying therebetween, as shown in FIGS. 6A-6C. When they approach each other, the hook hole 7a and the hole 7b approach each other until they are in register with each other in the same vertical line as the needle 1, as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C to 5A-5C. The numeral 8 designates an upper iron plate with a hole 11 provided therein. The numeral 9 is a lower iron plate. Long hair 10 for rooting is held between the two iron plates 8 and 9. The present invention has such a construction as has been described hereinbefore. In using this, the hooked needle 1 is located at an upper position as shown in FIGS. 3A-3C. Then, the needle 1 is caused to descend, as shown in FIGS. 4A-4C, by means of any conventional sewing machine mechanism.

At this time, the hooked needle 1 goes through the sheet-like material 5, the hook hole and the hole 7b in register with each other in the same up-and-down line, and the hole 11 of the upper iron plate 8 into the hair 10 which is held between the upper and lower iron plates 8 and 9. In this case, it is preferable that the lower hook 3 be as small as possible, because it has to penetrate into the hair material 10. Even when the needie starts to go up, the smaller hook 3 will be sufficiently strong to perform its function, because what it has to do is just to hook a hair. The maximum descent of the hooked needle 1 is to the position which is shown in FIGS. 4A-4C. Then, the hooked needle is moved up. One or several hairs caught by the lower hook 3 of the needle are lifted while being bent in the middle when the needle 1 goes up. The needle continues to go up, moving reversely through the hole 11, hole 7b and the hook hole 7a is register with each other, and through the sheet-like material 5 as may be seen in FIGS. 5A-5C. The sheet-like material 5 starts to move in the direction of the arrow about the time when the tip end of the hooked needle 1 goes up and releases the mate rial 5.

Then, the hooked needle 1 is moved down a second time. Upon the start of the second descent, a curved portion 100 of the hair 10 is disengaged from the lower hook 3, which has heretofore held it and the sheet-like material 5, which has remained stationary up to that time, starts to move slightly in the direction of an arrow at. Simultaneously, the hook hole 7a and the hole 71) are separated from each other to the left and right respectively in the directions of arrows B and Thus, holes 7a and 7b now are no longer in register with each other, and the hair 10 is bent in the form ofa reverse and assumes the position as shown in FIGS. 6A-6C. Subsequently, the hooked needle 1 continues to descend further until it stops at the minimum descending position which is slightly above a position of the bundle of hair 10.

At this time, the sheet-like material 5 has stopped its movements. The hooked needle 1 goes through the curved portion a and leaves it behind, descending alone to go through a position spaced one pitch across the sheet-like material 5. Then, the guiding upper plate 6a and the guiding lower plate 6b are moved in the direction of the arrows as shown in FIG. 7C, and a lower portion 10b of the hair 10 between the hook-hole 7a and the hole 7b is moved against and caught by the upper hook 4 which has just descended. This condition is shown in FIGS. 7A7C.

Subsequently, upon the hooking of portion 10b, the hooked needle 1 starts to ascend, going through the sheet-like material 5 reversely with the hair 10 being hooked by the upper hook 4. The condition as shown in FIGS. 8A-8C is reached. Then, the hooked needle 1 further ascends, drawing the portion 10b hooked on hook 4 through the curved portion 10a of the hair, as shown in FIGS. 9A9C.

Then, the hooked needle 1 further ascends and stops at a topmost position. In this case, the lower portion 10b of the hair has been pulled upwards so that the hair is satisfactorily tied, and thus rooted, on the sheet-like material 5. The condition is shown in FIG. 10 is assumed. Further, the sheet-like material 5 is moved in the direction of the arrow at by one pitch, whereby the next hair is now ready to be rooted.

We may add here that the upper hook 4 tends to hook the edge of a hole when the upper hook 4 goes through the sheet-like material 5 in its ascending operation. Therefore a latch 12 may be provided on a shaft 13 so that the hook 4 will be closed during ascending, and the hook 4 will be open during descending. Because the upper hook 4 has to hook a portion of a hair which is folded back, that is, a portion equivalent to two pieces of the hair, it has to have a sufficiently large size as to hook such a portion well without letting it get out of place.

EXAMPLE 2 A second embodiment of the hair rooting apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIGS. 11 to 18. The numeral 101 is a hooked needle like that of FIG. 1X which is moved up and down vertically and intermittently in two alternating large and small descending ranges by means of conventional cam means. A sheet-like material 105 is a material on which hairs are to be rooted and which may be any sheet-like material such as a knitted or woven fabric or a plastic sheet-like materiai, etc. It is moved intermittently, by the operation of a conventional cam means (not shown) by a given number of pitches in the direction of an arrow I (see FIG. 14). The numeral 106 designates a guiding ring, in which a ring hole 107 is provided therethrough near a tip end. The numeral 108 designates an upper iron plate and the numeral 109 a lower iron plate, both being located in register with each other in a vertical line. Hairs 110, which are respectively cut into a given length for rooting, are grasped between the two plates 108 and 109. A hole 111 is provided through the upper iron plate 108 right below the hooked needle 101.

In employing the present preferred embodiment of character as described above, the operation is started with the parts in the condition as shown in FIG. 11, and the hooked needle 101 is caused to descend by means of a cam means. At this time, the hooked needle 101 descends through the sheet-like material 105, the ring hole 107, the hole 111, etc., so that it is inserted into the hair bundle. The maximum descent ends with the parts in the positions shown in FIG. 12.

Then, the hooked needle 101 starts to go up. At this time, one or several hairs 110, which have been cut and bundled, are hooked by the lower hook 103, and are lifted up while being bent at the middle. The hooked needle 10] retreats through the hole 11 1, the ring hole 107, the sheet-like material 105, etc. and ultimately reaches a topmost position, as seen in FIG. 13.

Simultaneously with the hooked needle 101 starting to go down, the sheet-like material which has so far remained stationary, starts to move slightly in the direction of the arrow I. Furthermore, the guiding ring 106 starts to move in the direction of arrow II, in FIG. 14 with the descending point of the hooked needle 101 as its center. The hair is bent into the form of an S as shown in FIG. 14. Then, the hooked needle 101 continues to descend until it stops at the minimum descending point in which it does not reach the bundle of the hairs. At this time, the sheet-like material 105 has already stopped its movement, and the descending hooked needle 101 releases a curved portion 110a of the hair 110 which has been thus far hooked by the hook 103. The hooked needle 101 goes through the curved portion 110a and leaves it behind on the sheet-like material, and descends alone to go through a point in the sheetlike material 105 spaced one pitch from the previous point of penetration. At this time, the guiding ring 106 makes a move in the direction of arrow II in FIG. 15 to go around the descending hooked needle 101. Thus, since the lower end portion 110b of the hair 110 extends through the guiding ring 106, it is hooked by the upper hook 104 which has just reached the position of portion l10b during its descending movement, and the condition as shown in FIG. 15 is reached.

When the upper hook 104 has hooked the portion 110b, the hooked needle starts to go up. The hooked needle 101 goes up through the sheet-like material 105 with the hair 110 hooked on the upper hook 104, whereby the condition as shown in FIG. 16 is reached.

Next, the hooked needle 10] further ascends by going through the curved portion 110a of the hair 110 while still keeping the lower portion l10b hooked. This condition may be seen in FIG. 17. Then, the hooked needle 10] further ascends and stops at a topmost position. At this time, the lower portion 110b is pulled upwards, whereby the hair is rooted tightly in the sheetlike material 105. The condition is as shown in FIG. 18.

Furthermore, the sheet-like material 105 moves in the direction of an arrow III one pitch to prepare for the next hair rotating operation.

In bundling cut hairs when the present invention is put into operation, piled up hairs may be bundled at seams without the necessity of being grasped by iron plates. Thus, the present invention maybe put into operation as one pleases. What is more, employment of several scores of hooked needles simultaneously permits many hair rooting operations in parallel and simultaneously. Also, employment of a multiple color arrangement of cut hairs makes possible the preparation of color patterns. Thus, by this invention hairs can be eaily rooted by means of a highly simplified apparatus and by a fully automatic process.

A conventional cam mechanism is used for raising and lowering the needle and moving the upper and lower guiding plates 6a and 6b toward and away from each other. Such a mechanism is shown in FIGS. 19 and 20. A pulley l2 imparts rotating movement to a main shaft 13. from a power source. A bevel gear 14 is provided on said main shaft 13. A further bevel gear 15 is engaged with the bevel gear 14. Said bevel gear 15 is provided on a cam shaft 16 carrying cam 17 and rotates the cam 17. The cam 17 has a groove 18 on its surface. A cam roller 19 which is provided at the end of a lever 20 fits into the groove 18. As the cam 17 rotates, the cam roller 19 travels along the groove 18. The lever 20 is pivoted at the fulcrum 21. The end 22 of the lever 20 is connected by a connecting bar 23 with the needle 1.

When the cam 17 rotates, the lever 20, supported at the fulcrum 21, moves so as to move the end 22 in an up and down movement, so that the needle 1 makes an up and down movement.

Referring to FIGS. 19 and 20, a bevel gear 24 is engaged with the bevel gear 15 in the middle of cam 17. The bevel gear 24 is mounted at one end of shaft 25 and a sprocket 26 is mounted at the other end. A timing belt 27 extends around sprocket 26 and around a further sprocket 28 on shaft 32, and timing belt 27 imparts a rotational movement to the shaft 32. A cam 29 having a groove 30 on its face side and a groove 31 on its back side is mounted on shaft 32. A lever 33 for the upper and lower guiding plates 6a and 6b has a cam roller 34 at its one end. Said cam roller 34 fits into the groove 30. The upper guiding plate 6a is attached directly to the other end of the lever 33. As the lever 33 reciprocates by the movement of the roller 34, the upper guiding plate 6a is caused to move alternately backward and forward in the direction of the arrow 35. A bar 36 is pivotably attached at its base end to pivot 37 on the lever 33. The numeral 38 is a pivot at the fulcrum for the bar 36. A plate shaft 39 has the lower guiding plate 6b fixed at its end, and it has a pivot 40 thereon pivotably attached to the end of the bar 36. The lower guiding plate 6b is thus moved by means of the lever 33 and the bar 36 pivoted at the fulcrum 38. As the arrows 37 and 40a show, when the upper guiding plate moves towards the left, the lower guiding plate 6b moves towards the right, so that they are closed. When the upper guiding plate 6a moves towards the right, the lower guiding plate 6b moves towards the left, and thereby they are opened. Moreover, since the bevel gear 14 in the main shaft 13 which actuates the needle 1 engages the bevel gear 15 which is provided on the cam shaft 16, the upand-down movement of the needle 1 is synchronized with the opening and closing movement of the upper and lower guiding plates 6a and 6b.

A cam roller 43 on the end of a lever 42 fits into the cam groove 31. The lever 42 is supported at a fulcrum 44 intermediate its length, and the other end is pivotally attached to a slidable lever 45 at pivot 46. The one end of a supporting lever 46a is rotatably attached to a frame of the machine at 47, and the slidable lever 45 is rotatably attached to the forward end of the supporting lever 46. The fulcrum 38 for the bar 36 is provided at an intermediate portion 48 of the slidable lever 45.

When the cam roller 43 at the end of the lever 42 moves along the cam groove 31, by means of the mechanism as described above the slidable lever 45 supported by the fulcrum 44 and 47 moves back and forth laterally relative to the opening and closing movements of plates 6a and 6b. This back and forth lateral movement is imparted through the fulcrum 38 to the bar 38 causing it to make a back and forth lateral movement. In this way, the upper and lower guiding plates 6a and 6b are given the back and forth lateral movement simultaneously with their opening and closing movement.

I claim:

1. A hooked machine needle for use in an apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, said needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging double the number of strands of hair.that are engaged by said first hook.

2. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said hooks are on the same side of said needle.

3. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said hooks are on the opposite sides of said needle.

4. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said needle further has a latch pivoted on the needle on the side of the further hook remove from the tip and pivotable over the further hook.

5. A hair rooting apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, comprising a needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging double the number of strands of hair that are engaged by said first hook, needle raising and lowering means on which said needle is mounted for repeatedly lowering said needle to a lowest position, then raising it to an upper position, then lowering it to an intermediate position above said lowest position, and finally raising it to an uppermost position, a hair bundle holding means positioned below said needle at the lowest position of the needle tip and holding a bundle of hairs lying parallel to each other and transverse to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle so that the first hook extends into the bundle of hairs when the needle is at the lowest position, a pair of plates between said needle and said hair bundle holding means, one of said plates positioned slightly above the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position and the other of said plates positioned slightly below the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position, plate moving means on which said plates are mounted for moving said plates towardand away from each other in a direction perpendicular to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle and back and forth in a direction transverse to the movement of said plates toward and away from each other, said upper plate having a plurality of hooks at intervals along the edge thereof toward the lower plate and the lower plate having holes at corresponding intervals along the edge thereof toward the upper plate, the hooks and holes being aligned in the path of movement of said needle when the plates are in their closest position to each other.

6. A hair rooting apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, comprising a needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging double the number of strands of hair that are engaged by said first hook, needle raising and lowering means on which said needle is mounted for repeatedly lowering said needle to a lowest position, then raising it to an upper position, then lowering it to an intermediate position above said lowest position, and finally raising it to an uppermost position, a hair bundle holding means positioned below said needle at the lowest position of the needle tip and holding a bundle of hairs lying parallel to each other and transverse to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle so that the first hook extends into the bundle of hairs when the needle is at the lowest position, a guiding ring between said needle and said hair bundle holding means adjacent the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position, guiding ring moving means on which said guiding ring is mounted for moving said guiding in a direction perpendicular to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle and back and forth in a direction transverse to the movement of said guiding ring, said guiding ring normally being aligned in the UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3 a 882 804 Dated y 13 1975 Inventor(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

. In the heading, for line 73 read instead:

[73] Kanegafuchi Chemical Industry Co. Ltd. Osaka, Japan,

assignee of one-half interest.

Signed and Scaled this fourth Day Of No vember I975 {SEAL} Attest:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer Commissioner uflarenls and Trademarks FORM PO-l (10-69) uscoMM-Dc 60376-P69 ".5, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 869. 9 

1. A hooked machine needle for use in an apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, said needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging double the number of strands of hair that are engaged by said first hook.
 2. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said hooks are on the same side of said needle.
 3. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said hooks are on the opposite sides of said needle.
 4. A machine needle as claimed in claim 1 in which said needle further has a latch pivoted on the needle on the side of the further hook remove from the tip and pivotable over the further hook.
 5. A hair rooting apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, comprising a needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging double the number of strands of hair that are engaged by said first hook, needle raising and lowering means on which said needle is mounted for repeatedly lowering said needle to a lowest position, then raising it to an upper position, then lowering it to an intermediate position above said lowest position, and finally raising it to an uppermost position, a hair bundle holding means positioned below said needle at the lowest position of the needle tip and holding a bundle of hairs lying parallel to each other and transverse to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle so that the first hook extends into the bundle of hairs when the needle is at the lowest position, a pair of plates between said needle and said hair bundle holding means, one of said plates positioned slightly above the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position and the other of said plates positioned slightly below the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position, plate moving means on which said plates are mounted for moving said plates toward and away from each other in a direction perpendicular to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle and back and forth in a direction transverse to the movement of said plates toward and away from each other, said upper plate having a plurality of hooks at intervals along the edge thereof toward the lower plate and the lower plate having holes at corresponding intervals along the edge thereof toward the upper plate, the hooks and holes being aligned in the path of movement of said needle when the plates are in their closest position to each other.
 6. A hair rooting apparatus for rooting hair in a fabric-like material, comprising a needle having a pointed tip and a first relatively small hair engaging hook adjacent thereto of a size sufficient for engaging only a single or a few hairs from a bundle of parallel hairs, and a single further hair engaging hook spaced along the needle from the tip and having a size larger than said first hook sufficient for engaging douBle the number of strands of hair that are engaged by said first hook, needle raising and lowering means on which said needle is mounted for repeatedly lowering said needle to a lowest position, then raising it to an upper position, then lowering it to an intermediate position above said lowest position, and finally raising it to an uppermost position, a hair bundle holding means positioned below said needle at the lowest position of the needle tip and holding a bundle of hairs lying parallel to each other and transverse to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle so that the first hook extends into the bundle of hairs when the needle is at the lowest position, a guiding ring between said needle and said hair bundle holding means adjacent the position of said further hook when said needle is in the intermediate lowered position, guiding ring moving means on which said guiding ring is mounted for moving said guiding in a direction perpendicular to the direction of raising and lowering movement of said needle and back and forth in a direction transverse to the movement of said guiding ring, said guiding ring normally being aligned in the path of movement of said needle. 